Sam has been visiting our area for the holidays – and unfortunately this happened:

My green 1999 Honda CR-V was stolen on Christmas Eve from the street on the 5600 block of Fauntleroy Way SW. It has Oregon plates (872KGL).

Call 911 if you see it.

5:16 PM: From Michelle: A break-in early (updated) today at her condo in the 1600 block of Harbor SW, which has been hit before. Above is a security-camera screengrab of the suspect. Michelle says they’ve been hit before, and this time:

We were lucky that they only got one bike. They left several behind, including a new electric that they clearly couldn’t figure out. He did leave behind a watch that I have included. I would love it if people would keep an eye out for this really unique bike! It is going to cost $600 plus to replace and it is my 84-year-old mother’s bike. Grrrrrrrr.

She adds that “we bought it for Mom after she had her hips replaced so that she could just step over it.” The police incident # is 19-1618; if you find the bike, or know anything about the watch, also please let us know.

ADDED 7:04 PM: Thanks for the tips on a big police response near Westwood Village earlier this evening. Though it had dissipated by the time we got there, we were able to ask Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Strand about it just now at the SW District Council meeting. He said police were after a suspected auto thief. The teenage suspect was caught. The car belonged to his parents, whose custody he’s expected to be released into.

Two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch tonight:

STOLEN CR-V: From Rich:

2 men entered the garage at 5001 California Ave SW at 11:46 on Dec. 31st.

They attempted to steal a van by breaking the ignition lock but only managed to steal the handicap hang tag.

They checked out a few other vehicles before settling on a green 1998 Honda CR-V (WA License 220VQN). They backed the Honda into the vehicle that was blocking it in order to gain room to maneuver out of the parking space.

If you see the car, call 911.

STOLEN PURSE & MORE: From Sophie:

Last night on NYE, somebody stole my red Kate Spade purse at a party on Beach Drive. In it was a matching red Kate Spade wallet, two pairs of Ray Bans, my car keys, house key, and some other important items.

If you happened to spot it discarded or otherwise, we can connect you. We’ll also add the police report # as soon as we get it.

10:53 AM: Out of the WSB inbox, from Mark: “I am hoping to warn readers as well as get some community help to find my stolen car. My 2017 Nissan Leaf (Gray) was stolen on Christmas Eve in my parking lot: WA PLATE #BFC2811.” We’re following up to get theft-location information and will add when that’s available.

1:24 PM: 36th SW between Hanford and Hinds.

8:49 PM: Mark says his car’s been found, parked in front of a fire hydrant a few miles away, and he has it back.

Don’t leave anything out — except the milk and cookies for Santa! Mail and package thieves are also busy (minus reindeer) as the holiday season continues, this reader-recorded security video reminds us. The mail thief appears midway through the one-minute clip; this happened just after 4 am Saturday morning near 39th/Dakota. Info? Location: Near the intersection of 39th Ave. S.W. and S.W. Dakota. Info? Refer to SPD incident # 18-479040.

Another suspect in a high-profile West Seattle case has been found competent to stand trial after treatment at Western State Hospital. That was the ruling in a hearing Thursday for 26-year-old Keelan T. Malone, charged with indecent liberties and burglary with sexual motivation in last June’s 13th/Roxbury break-in. He was found incompetent back in September and ordered sent to WSH. He is now back in King County Jail, held in lieu of $500,000 bail. The next hearing in his case is scheduled for January 9th.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports:

HIGHLAND PARK ARRESTS: An SPD Blotter post explains why we couldn’t find an incident number to follow up on questions about what police were doing outside Highland Park’s Morningstar Deli on Wednesday: It was an Anti-Crime Team arrest rather than the result of a 911 call. The post says the officers were …
“responding to community complaints of auto thefts and abandoned stolen cars in the area” when this happened:

Around 4:30 Wednesday, ACT members were in the 8800 block of 9th Avenue SW when they spotted a reported stolen truck parked in a business lot. Officers watched the female driver walk away from the truck while another woman remained in the passenger seat. Plainclothes officers followed the suspect until uniformed officers arrived and took her into custody. The passenger was also detained and it was determined she had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant. During a search of the suspects, police recovered numerous stolen credit and debit cards, which had been reported stolen during multiple car prowls and burglaries in and around Seattle.

While officers were arresting the two women, a man, who was known to officers to have an outstanding warrant, inserted himself into the situation. Officers recognized the man as someone who had recently fled from patrol officers. He was immediately arrested on his outstanding warrant. The three suspects were later booked into jail.

The driver is a 28-year-old woman whose bail was set this afternoon at $46,000, most of that related to a warrant in a case in which she is charged with trafficking in stolen property. We looked up the case; it involved purse thefts two years ago from the elementary school where her child was a student, followed by fraudulent use of cards from the purses, and pawning or selling other items found in them. We haven’t determined the passenger’s status; the man is 31 years old and being held in lieu of $15,000 – the warrant was for an assault case.

CONSTRUCTION-SITE BURGLARY: From Kyra:

Just wanted to report a crime on Beach Drive this morning.

We are having construction done on our house and this morning, shortly after the contractor arrived, this truck drove up and a man in a camouflage hoody wearing a knit cap hopped out, ran inside and stole the contractor’s computer and printer. The truck is pretty unique with white wheel wells and a large white metal grate over the front grill. There is also a dark scratch/dent on the driver’s door.

If anyone knows who this is, please contact me. It was obvious he was casing the house and knew the contractor’s schedule. A police report has been filed.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports this morning:

HIT-AND-RUN: The photo, report, and video clips were sent this morning by Kendra:

My Jeep was hit hard by a navy blue Jeep (or ?) just before 8 am this morning. Hit so hard it jumped my Jeep onto the curb and grass. Our neighbor witnessed it and they backed up and sped off turning right on Erskine. She said she wasn’t sure how they were driving as they were pretty damaged as well. Called in police report. Be on the lookout of a crashed-in Navy Blue Jeep (or ?).

The crash/vehicle was caught on two security-video views nearby:

Police report # is 18-473833.

BIKE FOUND, LIKELY STOLEN/DUMPED: The photo is from Sean, who says it was found “in the woods”:

If you recognize it, let us know.

(October 2017 photo by WSB’s Christopher Boffoli)

A King County Superior Court judge has ruled that 27-year-old Kierra M. Ward is now competent to stand trial in the October 2017 stabbing attack on an Admiral woman out for a walk with her baby. The ruling on Monday followed Ward being sent to Western State Hospital for competency restoration, after she was found incompetent in July. The next step in the case, according to documents from Monday’s hearing, is a sanity evaluation, because her lawyer has indicated that Ward will pursue the insanity defense. The evaluation is to be done before her next hearing, which is set for January 10th. Ward is charged with one count of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault and remains jailed in lieu of $400,000 bail.

Multiple texters report calling 911 after hearing suspected gunfire in the Riverview area about half an hour ago. One also mentions hearing “a fleeing vehicle.” No reports of shooting victim(s), nor are we hearing anything about police finding evidence of gunfire (casings, damage) so far.

With Christmas a little more than a week away, delivery drivers and mail carriers will be busier than ever. And so will thieves. Thomas reports this happened late this afternoon:

We’re just north of the Morgan Junction on 46th and … had a couple packages rummaged through on our porch. Both packages were roughly cut open. Nothing taken, but they were not valuable items. No video unfortunately, but whoever did it is obviously following the driver around as we were out of the house for less than 40 minutes.

If you’re expecting a package via USPS, note this comment from earlier today, saying Westwood-based carriers will be out delivering them earlier than usual this week.

(WSB photo from Tuesday)

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed assault and attempted robbery charges this afternoon against 51-year-old Farrall M. Ditschinger, arrested after Tuesday’s attack on a 71-year-old Juneau Street Market employee. Here’s the narrative from the probable-cause document, written by SPD detectives:

On 12-11-18 at approximately 1215 hours Farrall M Ditschinger 5/12/67 walks into the Juneau Street Market … from the South. Upon entering the business Ditschinger walks up the beer aisle. Ditschinger then walks along the back wall where he looks into the office area and glances down the soda aisle , ensuring that no other employees are present. Ditschinger then walks down the middle aisle and approaches the lone, 71 year old female employee …

As Ditschinger approaches (her), he removes a pair of silver metal handcuffs from his left coat pocket with his left hand and transfers the handcuffs to his right hand. Ditschinger is wearing a white latex glove on his right hand. At approximately 1216 hours, (victim) has her back to Ditschinger as she stocks shelves, Ditschinger begins a vicious assault on (her) by striking her in the back of her head with the handcuffs, held in his right hand, approximately 6 times.

(victim) attempts to get away from Ditschinger by moving over to the cash register area, with Ditschinger following right behind her. (victim) attempts to cover her head with her right hand as Ditschinger is pulling on her left arm with his left hand. Ditschinger strikes (victim) with the handcuffs, held in his right hand, approximately 22 times in the area of her head and right hand/arm area. Ditschinger then pulls (victim) out from behind the counter area and pulls her down to the ground in front of the soda coolers.

Ditschinger continues to swing the handcuffs at (victim) approximately 37 more times. At 1217 hours (victim) manages to stand up and Ditschinger walks to the back of the store. As (victim) walks back to the area of the cash register, Ditschinger walks down the middle aisle, removing a black handled knife from his right coat pocket. The knife is in his right hand and the handcuffs are held in his left hand. As Ditschinger reengages (victim), (she) throws something at Ditschinger to defend herself. Ditschinger swings the knife at the left arm area of (victim). Ditschinger backs away from (victim), into the middle aisle, the knife being held in his left hand the the handcuffs in his right hand. (victim) picks up some type of tray and attempts to use it as a barrier between her and Ditschinger. When (victim) gets to the area of the middle aisle she attempt to flee the business through the open front business door. As (victim) is at the threshold of the door Ditschinger grabs ahold of (victim), by the shoulders, and pulls her back inside the business where he throws her onto the floor.

As (victim) is trying to escape a Bud Light Delivery truck is pulling to the curb in front of the business. A female witness … is walking northbound on the sidewalk in front of the store, just after Ditschinger has thrown (victim) to the floor and begun to strike her with the handcuffs again. (The witness) immediately calls 911 on her cellphone and remains outside the store.

After being thrown to the floor Ditschinger swings the handcuffs at (victim) approximately 51 more times. At some point during this time Ditschinger realizes that the knife blade has broken and he puts the knife handle back into his jacket pocket. Also during this time another witness … almost walks into the store as Ditschinger is beating (victim). (Driver) retreats outside the store and calls 911. At 1219 hours Ditschinger steps over (victim), who is still lying on the floor, and closes the door to the business. Ditschinger re-approaches (victim) and swings the handcuffs at her a few more times at which point he knocks down a metal display case onto (victim). With the display case now acting as a barrier, (victim) attempts to crawl to the front doors. Ditschinger attempts to stop (victim)’s effort by further assault but (she) is able to open the door slightly. At this same time, the Bud Light delivery worker … is approaching the door and observes (victim) in distress.

At 1221 hours (the driver) pulls the door completely open which prevents any further assault on (victim) by Ditschinger. Ditschinger then calmly walks behind the counter and begins to press the keys on the cash register with his latex covered right hand in an attempt to open the cash till. The till does not open and as (driver) is pulling (victim) to safety, to a business to the south, to open the cash register a second times by the same means used the first time. Ditschinger is unable to open the cash till. Just prior to Ditschinger attempting to exit the front door (driver and bystander) use their body weight to keep the door closed, as Ditschinger is pushing against it. Ditschinger then flees out the back door into the alley when he realizes he cannot exit out the way that he entered the store.

Responding SPD Officers arrived and observed Ditschinger running from the scene and after a short foot pursuit, Ditschinger was taken into custody. At the time Ditschinger was taken into custody, he still had the handcuffs used to assault (victim) in his hands. Search incident to arrest, the broken knife handle was also recovered from Ditschinger’s person. The investigating officers performed witness show up with (witnesses). All 3 positively identified Ditschinger as the male they observed assaulting (victim), Officers processed the crime scene inside the Juneau Street Market and recovered a broken knife blade inside the store near the front door. This was collected as evidence, as was the surveillance video that captured the incident in its entirety. Some of Ditschinger’s clothing was recovered at the time of his arrest. The remainder of the clothing was collected at the Robbery Office and when Ditschinger was booked into KCJ. At no time while Ditschinger was in police custody did he say anything or make any sound. Ditschinger was originally listed as John Doe but his identify was revealed at KCJ via fingerprints.

Other SPD Officers contacted (victim) in the foyer of a business to the south of the Juneau Street Market. (victim) was covered in blood and bleeding profusely from a wound on the back of her head. SFD responded to the scene, rendered aid and (victim) was transported to HMC via a Medic unit for further treatment. SPD Robbery Detectives responded to the hospital to investigate.

Sgt Aratani and I contacted (victim) at HMC … where she was receiving medical treatment. After (victim) was stabilized I was able to obtain an audiotaped statement from her. In her statement, (she) said that an unknown WM suspect, whom she described as W/M, late 30’s, 5’5″, 150, blonde “bowl” type hair style, no facial hair, wearing a black jacket, khaki pants and black dress shoes. (She) recalled being beaten with handcuffs and also recalled the suspect having a knife with a serrated edge, like a steak knife. (victim) stated that she was aware of who the suspect was as she had worked with his mother years ago at Sears, but that she did not know the suspect personally. (victim) verified that the attack was completely unprovoked and that at no time did the suspect say anything to her. Some initial photos were taken of (victim)’s injuries as some initial treatment had been performed and she had other exams still pending.

On 12/12/18 I went to HMC and contacted (the victim, who) was diagnosed with a left orbital fracture, a left arm fracture, lacerations to the back of her head that required stitches or staples to close and multiple abrasions, contusions and lacerations to her arms, hand and back area. …

Probable cause has been established that Ditschinger did commit Assault in the 1 Degree of (victim), a 71 year old female, by striking/swinging at her with handcuffs over 115 times. (Victim) did sustain severe injury requiring medical attention. Ditschinger also attempted to remove money from the cash register of the Juneau Street Market after using force to disable the lone employee of the store.

According to the charging documents, Ditschinger “has no known criminal convictions.” We noted in an earlier report that we found one assault case in Municipal Court records, from 32 years ago, but no details. He is being held in lieu of $750,000 bail, the amount requested by prosecutors.

HELPING THE VICTIM: Her family has started a GoFundMe campaign to help with the resulting financial challenges, describing her as “the most hard working, giving individual I’ve ever known.” Here’s the link where you can contribute.

Chuck reports, “Our Jeep Grand Cherokee was stolen last night, 47th SW and Walker, North Admiral.” It’s white, plates ABR2954, SPD incident # 18-465428. Call 911 if you see it.

ORIGINAL REPORT, WEDNESDAY NIGHT: The bail hearing for the 51-year-old man arrested after Tuesday’s Juneau Street Market robbery/attack has been postponed until tomorrow, but a judge has found probable cause to keep him in custody. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said that bail consideration was delayed because the suspect “was inappropriate for court,” without elaborating or replying to a followup. The KCPAO did provide the probable-cause documents, which are in the name of John Doe, with the police narrative noting that the man’s name was not immediately known, and he wouldn’t answer questions. Here’s what the report says happened once the suspect was in custody:

… Officers escorted three (3) witnesses to the stop location, where they positively identified this subject as the suspect they observed beating the female victim inside the market and also attempting to access the store’s cash register. It did not appear that the suspect was able to open the register. It is unknown at this time if any items were stolen from the store in this incident. This suspect, at this time referred to as John DOE, was arrested based on probable cause. Officers recovered a pair of handcuffs and a knife with a broken blade in possession of this suspect at the time of arrest; search incident to arrest. DOE was holding the handcuffs at the time and the broken knife was in his pants pocket. DOE was transported to the South Precinct, then Robbery Office, then booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery and Assault.

The document says the 71-year-old victim talked with a Robbery Unit detective at the hospital, telling him the attacker had come into the store and started beating her, with handcuffs held in his fist, without saying anything. She tried to escape and the attacker dragged her back inside and kept hitting her. Police say the attacker is shown on video trying to get into the register before leaving.

At some point before he was booked into jail last night, police matched a name to the suspect (the report notes there was no fingerprint match but doesn’t say what eventually led them to a name). Court records matched to that name show only one prior local arrest, for assault, 32 years ago. The suspect is due back in court tomorrow.

ADDED THURSDAY AFTERNOON: The suspect was again “inappropriate for court,” as the KCPAO put it, explaining to us today that the phrase often indicates a mental-health issue. Bail and charging are now scheduled to be addressed tomorrow (Friday).

We received a few questions about an early Saturday morning full-code police response in Admiral. We matched it to an incident number that accompanied a Tweets by Beat listing described as “assaults, firearm involved,” but there was no related medical call. So we requested the report today. Below is the police narrative. The victims’ names were redacted, so we refer to them as A and B:

(A) and (B) are boyfriend/girlfriend and currently homeless; they live inside their 1995 Honda Accord, which is registered to someone else. (West Seattle patrol officers have contacted the couple in the vehicle in previous occasions.)

On 12-08-18, at approx 0210 hrs., (A) was operating the Honda, with (B) in the front seat. He had been traveling northbound on California Ave SW and made a left turn onto westbound SW Seattle St. He pulled over curbside in a posted no-parking-anytime zone. (He) was going to retrieve some items from the trunk and then park there to sleep for the night. Before he had a chance to exit the Honda, the unknown suspect approached and arrived at the Honda from the east, opened up the driver’s side door and stuck a silver-tone handgun in (A’s) face. The startled (A) pushed the suspect’s arm away, but the suspect stuck the handgun in (his) face a second time. At the same time, while the suspect was mumbling incoherently,
(redacted) and (redacted) were yelling. The suspect stepped back, slammed the driver’s door shut and then walked off with a large creme-color dog, in an eastbound direction across the intersection. On the NE corner of that intersection is the Villa Andora Apartments … The suspect was last seen walking into the alley behind the apartment building.

(A) drove away from the scene and called 911. He stopped at (a business parking lot a few blocks south) to wait for officers. … Upon my arrival, I spoke with the couple and obtained the above account. (A) surmised that the unknown suspect possibly did not want to see homeless people in the neighborhood. (He) described the encounter as the suspect pointing the handgun within inches of his face. I confirmed with both (that) they were not injured. It is unknown if they would be able to identify the suspect if seen again. A search of the area was made; the suspect was not located.

If you have any information, the incident # is 18-457416.